"Grey Gardens"

Author(s): Alex
Location: Washington State

"Grey Gardens"

Directed by Alan Parker
Written by Doug Wright
Music by Scott Frankel
Lyrics by Michael Korie

Main Cast

1941:
Christine Ebersole (Edith Bouvier Beale)
Claire Danes (''Little'' Edie Beale)
Anthony Hopkins (J.V. "Major" Bouvier)
Jude Law (Joe Kennedy)
Mandy Patinkin (George Gould Strong)
Danny Glover (Brooks)
AnnaSophia Robb (Jacqueline Bouvier)
Elle Fanning (Lee Bouvier)

1973:
Christine Ebersole (''Little'' Edie Beale)
Jill Clayburgh (Edith Bouvier Beale)
Hugh Jackman (Jerry)
Gene Wilder (Norman Vincent Peale)
Danny Glover (Brooks)

Tagline: "N/A"

Synopsis: 1941:
The cream of the crop, a house sits in East Hampton, New York. That house is Grey Gardens. Inside, Edith Bouvier Beale and her accompanist George Gould Strong are preparing a recital for her daughter, Edie’s, engagement to Joe Kennedy. She gets everything set with Strong, her butler, Brooks, and her two nieces, Jacqueline and Lee. Everything is set for her husband’s arrival on the 5:15 train from New York City. Everything is going perfectly. Edie and Joe are madly in love and it seems nothing can stop them. They discuss what they wish to do with the rest of their lives. Edie wants to be a Broadway star while Joe wants to pursue a path in politics. Edie’s grandfather, J.V. “Major” Bouvier, hits his golf balls and tells his grandchildren what it means to be a proper Bouvier. He is very disappointed in his daughter and considers her a complete nutcase, which she may be.

Although everything is going as planned, everyone is gathered for a short song from Edith. She unwisely chooses the song “Hominy Grits”. In the song, she plays a black slave singing about cooking grits. The Major is outraged at what he hears. To cheer her mother up, Edie sings a duet called “Peas in a Pod” that they used to sing together; the very first song Edith ever taught Edie. When Edie goes upstairs to spend some time with her cousins, Edith decides to have a little talk with Joe. She reveals to him some instances of Edie’s lack of good judgment. This makes Joe reconsider their engagement. Edie explains that her mother is simply trying to hog the spotlight and that everything will be better when her father arrives. He agrees to have a chat with her father, but when Edie receives a telegram from her father saying that he won’t be returning and is leaving them for another woman, Joe realizes that he can’t stay. He breaks off the engagement and leaves. Edie is furious with her mother and bolts out the door to make a name for herself on Broadway. With the guests arriving, Edith’s world is falling apart.

1973:
Coming back to Grey Gardens to care for bedridden Edith, Edie is now in her forties. The house is nothing like what it used to be. In ruin, it’s now home to the two women and their 58 cats. The house has no plumbing and cobwebs are everywhere. Edie is terribly bitter and still vividly remembers the day when her mother crushed her dreams. She goes through the piling eviction notices while she dances in her somewhat interesting wardrobe.

Although she insists her mother ruined her, Edith has absolutely no regrets about the way she lived her life. Edie soon starts to have trouble telling the difference between the past and present as ghosts of the old house come back to haunt her. Because of the renovations requested by the government, a local kid by the name of Jerry comes by to help. Edith and Edie often vie for Jerry’s attention. Edie sings him an old fashioned WWII style number, but Edith cooks him some corn that he absolutely loves. Jealous, Edie goes away to her collection of memorabilia where she still has dreams of leaving the old house. She hears her mother singing for Jerry downstairs, but when she joins them and sings along her Edith demands that she leave, finding some peace in the daily preachings of radio-evangelist Norman Vincent Peale. Edie starts to once again pack her bags, not to the knowledge of her mother and Jerry, and begins to leave, but for some reason she can’t get past the garden’s gate. Brooks tries to help her, but Edie refuses. She goes back to her mother and they sing “Two Peas in a Pod” and realize that the only people they’ve ever truly loved were each other.

What the Press would say:

Alan Parker, who directed the film version of “Evita”, comes back to the genre to direct the Tony-Award winning musical, “Grey Gardens”. Although “Evita” scored big at the Golden Globes, it failed to catch on with the Oscars. This is something that “Grey Gardens” promises not to do. The story of two very different and interesting stars Tony-Award winner Christine Ebersole, who reprises her roles from the Broadway stage. Although most actors had more than one role in the show on Broadway, Ebersole is the only one playing more than one role playing both rebellious Edie and the stubborn Edith. She gives the best performance I’ve ever seen in a musical, beating out Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rita Moreno, Jennifer Hudson, etc. Her range is shown marvelously from her extremely hilarious rendition of “The Revolutionary Costume for Today” and the heartbreaking “Another Winter in a Summer Town”. She won the Tony, will surely win the Golden Globe, and is definitely on her way to an Oscar nomination. Jill Clayburgh plays Edith in the second half of the film, which takes place in 1973. Her wonderful performance is at it’s best during her song “Jerry Likes My Corn”. Only she could pull off a song like that. A hilarious performance that got Mary Louise Wilson a Tony will surely win Jill Clayburgh an Oscar. Claire Danes plays Edie in the first half of the film, set in 1941. She is also magnificent and presents us with a character that is absolutely electrifying. Her performance in the song “Daddy’s Girl”, in which she sings to her fiancée about her father and how he can save their engagement, is heartbreaking, especially when she learns that her father won’t be coming. Something especially fun about the film is watching

Ebersole first sing “Peas in a Pod” with Danes and then again with Clayburgh. “Grey Gardens”, the premiere musical of it’s time, could possibly see Oscar nominations in the following categories:

Best Picture
Best Director (Alan Parker)
Best Actress (Christine Ebersole)
Best Supporting Actress (Jill Clayburgh)
Best Supporting Actress (Claire Danes)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Doug Wright)